*CRUSH*
A large shadowy palm slammed into the rocks after missing Chao Shi by a hair's breadth, its strength causing the floor to cave in slightly creating a deep imprint in the solid rock.
Chao Shi began to sweat slightly, but he wasn't panicked.
'This transformation is incredible; I can see why cultivators would follow this path since it can give such a large boost of power for little cost…'
Another palm came flying at him as he was in mid-air.
*Schiing*
His sword drew multiple arcs as he stepped on the air, jumping around the extended limb and creating incisions which spilled copious amounts of black blood before healing a second after.
'I can do this much with the little Qi I can use' He thought as he coldly stared at the large monstrosity that Tai Min as transformed in to.
He landed on the floor and caused the rocks to crack as his muscles launched him at Tai Min, his other limbs all reached out trying to crush his small body, yet the sword flashed and many fingers went flying, it didn't matter how much power Tai Min had if he couldn't touch the enemy.
He stopped before Tai Min's chest and performed a wide slash aiming to sever him right to left.
"G-E-T A-W-A-Y" The stuttered speech of Tai Min leaked out from the monstrosity as the shadows that made up his body cascaded into one another, soon he was like a ball of darkness that suddenly burst like spikes like a hedgehog.
As Chao Shi's blade landed on his body, a small clang sounded out.
"!" Chao Shi reacted immediately, kicking off the bulging shadow to get out of the range of the encroaching spikes.
'What a pain, his ability to manipulate shadows was strengthened as well' He breathed out emptying the stagnating air from his lungs and drew in the fresh air, he then looked around the cavern at the flashing symbols and lights of the formation surrounding him.
'This formation is preventing me from using my bigger techniques and sword aura since they all use qi… the paltry amount that is leaking through isn't enough, I can't see the formations origin point either, it's probably outside so I won't be able to destroy it from in here without enough time…'
As he was thinking, Tai Min had reverted to his humanoid form and sunk into the shadows.
'Shit' Was the only thought he could make before the shadows around him erupted in a wave of limbs and blades.
His sword danced wildly as he parried and cut the myriad of attacks that surrounded and barraged him, each one wasn't particularly strong, yet the amount was frustratingly large, it felt like moving around in a forest of blades.
He didn't have a chance to take a proper stance to pull off any techniques either, it just became a battle of instinct.
Luckily, Chao Shi's instinct was top notch among many.
'Fine, if that's how you want to play!'
His qi surged from his core, causing him immense pain, yet he didn't care one bit and kept going until it managed to surge between the cracks of the seal the formation was placing on him.
He took his sword in to his two hands, pointing it at the shadowy ground below him.
<
All the Qi he had managed to force through the seal travelled down his sword into the earth.
*DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*
It ruptured, causing a mini explosion and shaking the entire cavern, a sharp aura leaked out of the fragmented earth cutting away at the shadows and severing them.
After a few seconds, the shaking had stopped and rocks and rubble began to settle, a large crater filled with rubble and dust had been created with Chao Shi at the centre.
He strolled out of it, eyes glaring at the figure that had escaped from the shadows after being hit by his attack.
*Cough*
Black blood dribbled on to the floor, Tai Min's black eyes were seemingly bloodshot as he clutched his body in pain.
"You're a mere criminal that's being used, you expected to be able to match someone like me just by borrowing this formation?" Chao Shi.
"SHUT IT! YOU CAN'T EVEN KILL ME!" Tai Min spat back, pulling himself up as his wounds closed.
Chao Shi's expression darkened.
"You really have killed a disgusting amount, haven't you?"
At the core of Tai Min's abilities was the type of Qi he used, which was Baleful Qi; He hadn't followed the normal path of cultivation either, using the heart of a Qi Beast to replace his own and feeding that as his core of cultivation.
His regeneration stems from this, and it will keep going as long as he has Baleful Qi to go through.
Baleful Qi comes from the suffering of living beings, but the highest amount can be retrieved from the body after death, more so if they suffered a horrifying death.
'The amount of Qi he's used, it easily surpasses the multiple thousands… I'll need to follow up on this man after' He wondered how he could have gotten to this point without the Sects or Iris picking it up.
He wiped his mouth; a little dribble of blood had begun after he had pushed himself past the seal before.
'Not being able to tell where his core currently is, is a pain, I can keep hacking away at his body until his Qi runs out, but who knows how long that will take at this rate?'
The two of them began squaring up, preparing to continue combat.
Until-
Both their eyes shot wide open.
…
Shu He felt numb, like he had crossed a line somewhere, at some point his tears had stopped, the sight of his parent's bodies lying side by side only caused his heart to tighten to a painful degree, but that was it.
He watched Tai Min and Chao Shi fight back and forth, seeing Tai Min dismembered then regenerating annoyed him to no end, he wanted him to die, why was he still struggling? Why was he still alive?
He could feel the room trying to block his Qi, yet it wouldn't work, he assumed whatever these lights were, they were similar to the Dousing Veil that Tai Min had placed on him before, maybe an even stronger version.
He could tell that Chao Shi had very little Qi to use at the moment, he could see his flow constricted to a single point, with only a couple of small streams leaking out, but it wasn't the same for Tai Min, his body became a disgusting mess of black, writhing like a pit of worms trying to squirm their way into a rotting carcass.
He didn't even look human anymore.
Yet Shu He felt no fear towards him anymore, what was the point? His fear had broken.
He looked around the cave, wondering if he could do anything, something to make that man die sooner.
And then his eyes rested on something.
A large bow, with a single thick shafted arrow, the weapon his father had discarded before he switched to the saber.
Shu He never used a saber, he had no interest in using one, though he did wonder why his father had one, and why he was so skilled at using it.
He walked over oh so steadily, his footsteps so quiet and easily drowned out by the ravenous battle in the background.
His hands reached out and picked up the bow, it was almost as tall as Shu He himself.
'It's heavy' He realised, easily multiple times heavier that any standard bow he had used before, he fiddled with the string realising that it was also incredibly thick and tough.
He stared over at Tai Min who was on the defensive.
'Is this the weight my father lived with?'
He had only seen a glimpse of his Father's true feelings, his past, yet he could tell now, he had carried a heavy burden and fear that threatened him as he lived with his family, yet he still worked to protect them.
He gave his life to protect his child without a second thought, even though he was facing the source of his fear.
His grip tightened; a deep anger welled up inside of him.
The one who killed my mother, my father, the one who wants to kill me.
Tai Min.
He picked up the arrow and knocked it on the bow and turned around, observing the fight, observing his target.
His face was the essence of calm, yet deep inside his eyes gave way to a single-minded desire.
KILL.
Yet he wasn't stupid, he knew he couldn't just fire off arrows hoping to damage him or get a lucky hit, he knew from watching that striking him in the head, or where the heart should be wouldn't kill him.
He had watched the fight closely and realised that Chao Shi was trying to pierce and cut different locations, as much as possible, as if he didn't know where the vital point was.
But for Shu He, it was different, his sight let him see the flow of qi, the flow of energy, he could see it within the writhing darkness, a black core about the half the size of an apple, moving about steadily, avoiding all the blows.
However, even if Shu He screamed out where It was, the delay between relaying the information and Chao Shi's reaction would be too slow, it would move before he struck.
It would also make Tai Min target him first again, right now he was a harmless spectator that wasn't cared for, and he will use that to his full advantage.
He drew his bow, the tip pointing right for Tai Min.
With his skills right now, he didn't think he could hit it.
But it didn't matter, he didn't have a choice.
Hit it or die, those were the options.
He focused, he entered a state similar to meditation, his Qi flowed around his body.
'Stop shaking'
The golden flame thumped in his chest, yet he didn't care to notice.
'I need more strength'.
The golden qi began to steadily flow, oh so slowly.
The bow string was pulled till it wouldn't go anymore.
'I need to be precise!' He screamed internally.
His eyes glowed a pure gold, he felt like the only things that existed were him and the target.
'I NEED EVERYTHING'
His entire body began pulsating, all of his Qi whether azure or gold twisted like a maelstrom inside his body, drawing out everything that he had inside of him, every last drop.
An aura seemed to envelop Shu He, unbeknownst to him, because of this his burning Qi went unnoticed to the other two.
He had long since stopped breathing, his heart had slowed, his eyes bloodshot as tears of blood began dripping, yet he didn't move, like a statue with a single purpose.
Shu He wasn't merely firing an arrow from the bow, he was becoming the bow, embodying the arrow.
He was pushing himself far past his limits.
And all for one moment, one shot.
The moment Tai Min had recovered, the moment he was fully focused on Chao Shi.
The arrow flew, unseen and silent, like a deadly poison.
Even though the core still moved, in the sub-second duration the arrow took to fly to the target, it corrected its aim, like it had a will of its own, Shu He was stood stock still ever since it flew from the bow, his eyes locked on the arrow like it was his very soul.
In the next moment, the eyes of Tai Min and Chao Shi shot wide open.
And Tai Min screeched in pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" His body contorted like a disturbed pond surface, shapes emerging and sinking in his darkness laced figure.
Chao Shi's surprise only lasted a microsecond, he used all his strength to approach Tai Min and-
<
And he pierced it through cleanly, leaving a circular hole.
This time however, it didn't close, there was no healing.
Tai Min's pain seemed to end; one set of his eyes looked toward the hole in his chest with disbelief.
His head almost creaked as he turned towards the figure behind him.
The figure of the small, weak child that he had been ignoring.
What greeted him were eyes that seemed empty, his body unmoving.
"Ho…w?" He asked.
In the next moment, his entire body collapsed like clothes on some strings, becoming a puddle of disgusting black mess that tainted the floor.
*Swish*
Chao Shi swung his blade, getting rid of any remnants of blood on it, then sheathed it.
He too was confused, what he sensed in that moment even gave him a bit of fright, yet he didn't let the chance to finish him go.
He walked around the black puddle, he would need to send some people to check over this area when he was done.
The formation blinked and faded, without the user alive it deactivated.
"Shu He…?"
Chao Shi looked over in to the darkness, Shu He hadn't moved an inch, he was holding a bow in the firing position.
He was deeply confused and concerned, that single arrow displayed abilities that far surpassed the 'Shu He' he knew about was capable of.
In the next moment however, he collapsed to the side, all of his orifices began leaking blood.
"Shu He!"
Without hesitation, he ran over.
He didn't want to lose another person.